1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to method and apparatus for winding a filament, particularly a method and apparatus for winding a filament in a desired configuration.
2. The Prior Art
There is a wide market for wound filaments including ribbon wrapped in bows for e.g. packages, floral pieces and corsages. Several devices have been constructed to assist the winding of filament e.g. yarn or ribbon into a uniform winding of bows or other patterns. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,542,222 to A. Welch (1951), provides a bow-tying apparatus in which one loop of ribbon at a time, is wound around a pair of spaced horizontal arms 40, shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a central portion of the winding is impaled on a pin 22, shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the next segment of ribbon is wound or looped around the horizontal arms 40, which pushes the prior-wound loop off the arms 40. The next so-wound loop of ribbon is impaled at a center portion thereof over the prior ribbon winding, and the cycle is repeated until a rosette of ribbon bows, as shown in FIG. 4 of the Welch reference, is formed. Accordingly, such apparatus requires the steps of winding one ribbon loop at a time, impaling a center portion of such loop and forming, impaling and stacking successive loops of ribbon in such multi-step process for forming such rosette.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,816,888 to J. Rather (1974) discloses a pair of spaced rods 9 and 10 around which yard is wound in a stacked series of windings, as shown in FIG. 1, which are subsequently joined at the center thereof and subsequently slipped off the rods 9 and 10 to form a pompon, as shown in FIG. 4 thereof. This apparatus permits but a vertical stack of windings, so that in winding ribbon, one would obtain edge-to-edge loops rather than side-by-side loops, which can be compactly secured together.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,044,670 to Barefoot (1962) discloses a ribbon winder wherein upstanding pegs are arranged in a base around a central peg or hub and the ribbon is wound back and forth around the outer pegs and impaled at a central portion thereof on such hub to provide a compact package bow. Again, such apparatus teaches a ribbon piercing or impaling step, as each ribbon loop is formed. Further, such apparatus forms a flat or compact package bow and not a flowing bow-winding e.g. for a floral piece.
Accordingly, the above-cited prior art does not provide a method and apparatus for a free-flowing winding of a filament, including ribbon and there is a need and market for a method and apparatus for winding filament that substantially overcomes the above prior art shortcomings.
There has now been discovered a method and apparatus for winding filament including ribbon, in a free-flowing manner, wherein such filament can be rapidly wound in a multi-loop pattern to a desired size and readily securing such winding.